Teens And Young Adults Approach Issues Differently

Adults often see teens have a different viewpoint. A study has confirmed this notion. Teens and young adults approach issues differently.

Adults often see that teens do not have the right decisions. A study though has shown that teens as well as young adults are at a time of exploration and are more likely to try out different approaches to an issue. The study has been conducted by Robert Wilson, a psychologist from the University of Arizona together with colleagues from Harvard University and Weill Cornell Medical College.

Wilson has said that humans use two ways to explore. Humans can either use direct exploration, or else they could use random exploration. He has said that people switch between the two types of exploration all the time.

Direct exploration is used to find a specific information. Random exploration has less of a goal in mind. To study which type teens use, he had 149 people participate in the study. The age ranges of the participants range from 12 to 28 years. For the study the participants have to sue a computer-generated slot machine designed for it.

The study has shown that both young and old would use the slot machine that has a high reward option. However, if six options are given, young adults would likely use the machine with only one known output. This is to get information about it as much as possible, according to UA News. This is in contrast to teens, who would go for a more random way of exploring it.

Leah Somerville is the co-author of the study and an associate professor of Psychology at Harvard University. She has said that the study makes it clearer how teens decide on things. She has observed that teens value different kinds of information, though they would also often look at the short term rewards rather than the long term implications. More research needs to be done on why the two age groups have a different way of approaching issues, as Science Daily notes.